At the first-instance hearing of 29 Dong Tam people accused of pouring gasoline and burning three police officers, taking place in September, the lawyers participating in the defense for these defendants asked to rebuild the scene but their request was not met by the Trial Panel.
Lawyer Nguyen Hong Bach, who defended the legal rights and interests of the three police victims, opposed the reconstruction of the scene on the grounds that it would evoke the pain of the victim’s family.
This is a deadly case, with two death sentences, but it was not allowed by the authorities to reconstruct the scene for experimentation so it causes public dissatisfaction. The question is, if the experimental investigation rekindles the pain of the victim’s families, is an unjust death penalty the lifelong pain of the unjustly convicted family?
Talking to RFA on September 10, when the trial ended the argument, attorney Ngo Anh Tuan, one of the lawyers in legal protection for the defendants, said that, for a case with death, if there is a death sentence, it is necessary to rebuild the scene. However, this issue belongs to the subjective side of the Trial Panel. Which means they feel it is necessary or not is their right.
As for big and important cases that kill people like Dong Tam, the investigation and reconstruction of the scene is even more necessary, but they do not. This does not convince everyone, said lawyer Ha Huy Son
According to Article 204 of the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code, scene reconstruction aims to clarify details and behaviors of the perpetrator. This is also one of the empirical investigative work, helping the investigative agency verify and review the evidence and testimonies of the accused, whether or not the accused is honest, objective and logical judge the right person, the right crime. During an investigation, it is required to measure, take photos, record pictures, draw a plan, and clearly write the investigation results in the minutes.
The Dong Tam case was reopened on social networks when on December 9, 2020, the police of Thu Dau Mot city, Binh Duong province reconstructed the scene of a traffic collision leading to assault.
Attorney Ha Huy Son expressed his opinion to RFA on this case:
“In my opinion, any case where the investigating agency uses all the provisions of the law to clarify the objective facts of the case is welcome and supportive. Specifically, the motorcycle crash in Thu Dau Mot.
As for big and important cases that kill people like Dong Tam, the investigation and reconstruction of the scene are even more necessary, but they do not. This does not convince everyone. It has a sign of something that has not been clarified the case yet.”
According to this lawyer, the experimental investigation of a criminal case is to determine the objective truth. But there are cases to conceal the truth, the agency conducting the proceedings refused to investigate the investigation.
Although the scene was not reconstructed to clarify many unreasonable circumstances, the first-instance hearing still took place and ended with two death sentences for Mr. Le Dinh Cong and Le Dinh Chuc, a life sentence for Le Dinh Doanh. Le Dinh Cong and Le Dinh Chuc said they would appeal.
To prepare for the future appeal hearing, lawyer Le Van Hoa from Hanoi said that he would continue to recommend rebuilding the scene. He affirmed that in serious cases like the Dong Tam case with many episodes, but the scene was not reconstructed to clarify, the Trial Panel violated the procedural law. He said:
“My point is to reconstruct the scene of the Dong Tam crime scene. This has been recommended by us. Without reconstructing the scene, it is not clear whether the deaths of the three policemen were objective or not. To prepare for the appeal hearing, we continue to recommend the investigative agency rebuild the scene. Failure to reconstruct the scene is clearly a violation of the proceedings.”
Although he did not participate in the trial of Dong Tam as a defense lawyer, but with his experience, lawyer Pham Cong Ut said, so that the people were conscientious and the international did not react to the Dong Tam case then forced the competent authority to re-experiment the scene. Otherwise, it is clear that the Trial Panel has seriously violated the proceedings. He added:
“The agency that conducts the proceedings said they did not want to experiment with the scene because they did not want to reproduce the traumatic event. This reason is not included in the 2017 Criminal Procedure Code 2017. There is no provision in this law to exclude cases that arouse heartbreaking events so as not to reconstruct the scene. Failure to re-test the scene is, in my opinion, a serious breach of the proceedings.
Here it has two problems. One is that they do not want to clarify and the other is that they do not dare to clarify. Do not want to be clear that they despise public opinion. Do not dare to clarify that they are afraid of public opinion, they are afraid of justice. If under the criminal procedure law, they must clarify.
This case, I think it will be in the judicial history of Vietnam later on a State is said to be the rule of law, living and working under the constitution, the law. In fact, they do not live and work according to the constitution, the law because they do not allow field experiments for cases like this.”
The Dong Tam case is a case that attracts a lot of attention in public opinion both at home and abroad. The case happened when the authorities mobilized about 3,000 police officers to attack Dong Tam commune, a suburb of Hanoi at dawn on January 9, 2020, killing communal leader Le Dinh Kinh.
The Ministry of Public Security later said that the attack happened because people in the commune attacked functional forces protecting the disputed land between the people and the government, leading to conflict.
Dong Tam people have rejected this argument. The subsequent reports of civil society organizations in Vietnam showed that there were many uncertainties in the police attack on Dong Tam as well as the investigation and trial afterward.
However, international calls for an independent investigation of the Dong Tam case were not met by the Hanoi government.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
